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Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler (1992)

★ 6.5 · 1,096 ratings on TMDB

The odds are 10 billion to 2.

Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler poster★ 6.5

Cooler has resurrected himself as a robot and is enslaving the people of New Namek. Goku and the gang must help.

DirectorDaisuke Nishio
CastKazunari Tanaka, Kohei Miyauchi, Masako Nozawa, Mayumi Tanaka, Naoki Tatsuta, Ryo Horikawa
GenresAction, Animation, Science Fiction
The emergence reading

In Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler, consciousness is carried by machines — a plane of “interstellar war”. The story fights on E8/E6 of the E0–E14 reality ladder, compressing power, survival, technology.

↷ machinesJPpowersurvivaltechnology
Also inConsciousness hiding in machinesFilms about survivalFilms about technologyFilms that move consciousness off the human
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Same rung, same subject

Films fighting at the same level of reality, about the same things.

Warriors of Future (2022)E6/E8 · rare rung · survival, technologyGodzilla vs. Kong (2021)E6 · rare rung · power, technologyOutlander (2008)E6 · rare rung · survival, technologyKing Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)E6 · rare rung · power, technologySpecies III (2005)E6 · rare rung · survival, technologyGodzilla 2000: Millennium (1999)E6 · rare rung · survival, technology

Same subject, different rung

The same preoccupations examined at another scale — one mind versus a nation.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)E7/E10 · rare rung · power, survivalNausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)E7/E12 · rare rung · power, technologyPacific Rim (2013)E11/E14 · rare rung · survival, technologyKingsman: The Secret Service (2015)E11/E14 · rare rung · power, technologyIndependence Day: Resurgence (2016)E13/E14 · rare rung · survival, technologyThe Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)E9/E14 · rare rung · survival, technology

Also hides consciousness here

Other films that move a human interior onto the same kind of thing.

Terminator Genisys (2015)consciousness in machines · AI apocalypseTransformers (2007)consciousness in machines · mechanical warTransformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)consciousness in machines · mechanical alien warTransformers: Age of Extinction (2014)consciousness in machines · alien‑mech warTransformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)consciousness in machines · machine war on EarthMission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025)consciousness in machines · AI nuclear apocalypse

Same subject, different mask

The same preoccupations carried by a different kind of thing — grief told through the dead, an animal, a machine.

Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon (1995)consciousness in aliens · power, survivalDragon Ball Z: Lord Slug (1991)consciousness in aliens · power, survivalGodzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)consciousness in monsters · power, survivalMimic (1997)consciousness in animals · survival, technologySon of Godzilla (1967)consciousness in monsters · power, technologyFree Birds (2013)consciousness in animals · survival, technology

Same people

Shared director or cast.

Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13! (1992)dir. Daisuke NishioDragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest (1990)dir. Daisuke NishioDragon Ball Z: Dead Zone (1989)dir. Daisuke NishioDragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan (1993)Kohei MiyauchiDragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! (2008)Kazunari TanakaDragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks (1993)Kohei Miyauchi